1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to virtual worlds and, more particularly, to virtual lounges.
2. Background of the Invention
Over the last decade the popularity of massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs), for example World of Warcraft® and Second Life®, has grown significantly. With MMOGs, a very large number of game players who communicate via a network, such as the Internet, can game with one another in a commonly shared virtual gaming environment, also known as a “virtual world.”
Virtual worlds oftentimes include, or link to, one or more virtual lounges. In a virtual lounge, avatars for respective participants are presented, and participants can communicate with one another. For example, a first participant can select avatars for other participants and send text messages to those participants. Alternatively, the first participant can choose to send a text message to all of the participants. In some virtual lounges, voice communications also are supported. Thus, participants within the virtual lounges are able to converse with one another using voice over internet protocol (VoIP) communications.